illegally opening mail and using letter contents.

[Gabrielle Griffiths]

My husbands ex partner has opened mail addressed to my partner and myself which was accidentally sent to her address by an insurance company. She has now gained that information about me (my name and address at the time - 12 months ago)and the vehicle and used the information in the letter in her settlement offer to my husbands Family lawyer - right down to the policy number and exact description of the vehicle in the letter. She is self represented.

is there any recourse?

 

[Scruff]

There are several sections under the Commonwealth Criminal Code that deal with this sort of thing:

s471.1 - "Theft of mail-receptacles, articles or postal messages" (max penalty 10 years imprisonment);
s471.3 - "Taking or concealing of mail-receptacles, articles or postal messages" (5 years max);
s471.8 - "Dishonestly obtaining delivery of articles" (5 years max).

He could report it to the Police, but I have no idea where this sort of thing sits on their priority list.

As for how the information is used, you can face pretty serious charges for using illegally obtained evidence in any legal proceeding. But again, whether or not the court will actually do anything is anyones guess.

Mail tampering is supposed to be treated very seriously, as shown by the above penalties, but from what I've seen, it's not treated very seriously at all unless there's threats involved.